Dewhurst plans committee shakeup on education

Updated 7:12 am, Thursday, October 4, 2012

AUSTIN — Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is poised to announce Senate leadership changes today that could have a profound effect on Texas education policy — including giving fuel to a push for school choice.

Dewhurst plans to name Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, as chairman of the Senate Education Committee, according to the lieutenant governor's office.

Patrick, who will replace retiring Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, already has said he would push a voucher program that parents could use to send their children to alternatives to public schools.

“To me, school choice is the photo ID bill of this session,” Patrick said in August. “Our base has wanted us to pass photo voter ID for years, and we did it. They've been wanting us to pass school choice for years. This is the year to do it, in my view. That issue will do more to impact the future of Texas and the quality of education than anything else we could do.”

In his race for the GOP U.S. Senate nomination — which he lost to conservative insurgent Ted Cruz — Dewhurst got criticism from the right over the Senate Higher Education Committee bottling up a bill to do away with in-state tuition for qualified children of illegal immigrants. Zaffirini has said the bill didn't have support from a majority of committee members.